Games like GTA V may put retailers out of business

We are just hours away from the big Grand Theft Auto V trailer reveal but now we have some interesting news on the side as it has been suggested that GTA V may not release on disc, and may instead come with just a redeem voucher online for respective stores – sounds ridiculous doesn’t it on first reading?

We agree on the basis that games are slowly moving towards the full digital distribution concept, which may eliminate retail copies completely at some point in the future, but to say that it’s going to happen to such a huge title as Grand Theft Auto 5 is a very bold statement indeed.

That statement has come from Peter Warman, who is the CEO of research and consulting firm Newzoo, as he believes that the game will come with a retail box, but there will be no disc inside, just a collector’s item along with a download code to get the game on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace or Steam. He is what he said in a recent interview with Industry Gamers:

“Boxed games will not disappear, but what is in the box will. That is why the boxed GTA V version will contain a collectible piece of merchandise and a download code. No disc.”

Later on today, we expect Rockstar to announce a release sometime in 2012 for GTA V, and we definitely cannot see them shipping the game without a disc in favor of a download code – that would take away the possession element of owning games, not to mention taking away the fun attached to midnight launches.

We admire his honesty though, and it’s certainly an interesting question up for debate. Are we really this close to total digital distribution for video games? I do believe it will happen in the future, but just not yet for a long time. Retailers are not dead and buried just yet, we’re sure you agree.

If you have something to say on this, share your thoughts with us below. How far do you think we are away from digital distribution for all video games?